There’s a First Time for Everything

There is more than one reason we had to go this route. First of all, Snowy’s in heat. S.N.O.R.T. ordered us a very cute pair of doggie undies but they obviously haven’t arrived yet and things are getting a bit messier so I bought a package of doggie diapers at PetSmart (**updated to add: I came home from work tonight and Snowy had managed to remove her diaper 😦 **)

Reason #2: Snowy has reverted back to peeing and pooping in the house, mostly overnight, but occasionally during the day (like today). I reached out to S.N.O.R.T. to get some help; I successfully housetrained two dogs so I’d like to think I have a bit of experience but I cannot get Snowy housetrained!!

One volunteer suggested that separation anxiety might be the cause of the messes and there could be some validity to that. She primarily pees and poops when we’re not home or are upstairs sleeping, but there are the occasional times she’ll make a mess in another room while we’re home. Still, not ruling it out.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution! If we crate her, she barks (and doesn’t stop. Trust me.) and because we live in an apartment, we can’t let her bark it out. Second, if we let her upstairs at night, she’ll sleep on our bed. Even if we put a dog bed on the floor she’ll hop right up into our big, comfy bed (no one said she was dumb) and I draw the line at sleeping in the same bed as my dog. Third, we do have to work during the day but crating her is ruled out and I can’t bring her to work.

Those eyes kill me…she’s so sad

One suggested solution to the problem was creating a sort of pen for her; something that doesn’t feel like a crate to her but small enough that it might discourage her from soiling where she spends the day while we’re working. I think it’s a very logical next logical step. It would give me flexibility to move the pen around and try a few different spots – for instance, if she wants to be in the same room as Lucy, in a separate room, etc. Heck, I’ll even pen them together if they want!

Anyway, the reason for all this bathroom talk lately (which no one wants to stop having to think about more than me) is that holiday travel is less than a week away and I’m more than mildly freaking out! We HAVE to come up with a solution or else my family is not going to welcome us home with a dog that makes constant messes and I don’t blame them. We cannot kennel her as she is a foster dog and not our own; plus, I love traveling with my dogs! Neither of our families has met Snowy yet and pooping aside, they are going to love her!

I bought this pen today after work, we’ll set it up tonight and then see how it goes:

As a side note, I got home from work last night around 9:30 and Snowy was making a mess everywhere (don’t get me started on the fact that Marty was home with her while I was at work and yet it went unnoticed she was tracking blood everywhere!). PetSmart was closed so I couldn’t run out to get anything so we grabbed an old pair of Marty’s boxers and put them on Snowy. I was doubled over in laughter from both her insane cuteness and her look of utter disgust. She was not amused. Honestly though, it was hilariously adorable but when I went to take a picture Marty stopped me.

“You can’t put a picture of her in men’s boxers on the internet. It’s not fair to her.”